ECHA calls for targeted research to enhance protection of environment and strengthen chemicals safety

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has identified new research areas where further regulatory scientific research is needed to enhance protection of human health and the environment and strengthen chemicals safety, announced the agency on 09/06/2026.

In its updated Key Areas of Regulatory Challenge Report, ECHA also "expands on regulatory research areas to tackle pollution and biodiversity loss, to enable the evaluation of environmental impacts and to address safe innovation and circularity".

The new areas are :
• "environmental impacts of chemicals at ecosystem level, to strengthen the link between risk assessment, biodiversity protection and socio-economic decision-making;
• mobility of persistent substances, including the need for improved methods and models to identify contaminants that can spread widely in water systems ;
• and resistance to biocides, requiring harmonised methods to assess risks and ensure continued effectiveness of treatments".

According to Sharon McGuinness, ECHA's Executive Director, "this report reflects ECHA’s strengthened focus on regulatory science…